LooseBasin

Scipio Africanus The Elder

2005-03-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Latin Scipio Africanus Major , in full Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Roman general noted for his victory over the Carthaginian leader Hannibal in the great Battle of Zama (202 BC), ending the Second Punic War. For his victory he won the surname Africanus (201 BC).

Silica

2005-03-29T11:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Silicon Dioxide, compound of the two most abundant elements in the Earth's crust, silicon and oxygen, SiO2. The mass of the Earth's crust is 59 percent silica, the main constituent of more than 95 percent of the known rocks. Silica has three main crystalline varieties: quartz (by far the most abundant), tridymite, and cristobalite. Other varieties include coesite, keatite, and lechatelierite. Silica

English Literature, Early translations into English

2005-03-28T15:34:00.000-08:00

But the earliest literary prose dates from the late 9th century, when King Alfred, eager to improve the state of English learning, led a vigorous program to translate into English “certain books that are necessary for all men to know.” Alfred himself translated St. Gregory I the Great's Pastoral Care, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, St. Augustine of Hippo's Soliloquies

Ahmedabad

2005-03-25T16:32:00.000-08:00

The city was founded in AD 1411 by the Muslim ruler of Gujarat, Sultan Ahmad Shah, next to the older Hindu town of Asawal. Ahmedabad grew larger and wealthier for a century, but dynastic

Demosthenes

2005-03-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

Athenian statesman, recognized as the greatest of ancient Greek orators, who roused Athens to oppose Philip of Macedon and, later, his son Alexander the Great. His speeches provide valuable information on the political, social, and economic life of 4th-century Athens.

Cheke, Sir John

2005-03-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

Cheke also spelled Cheek English humanist and supporter of the Protestant Reformation who, as the poet John Milton said, “taught Cambridge and King Edward Greek” and who, with his friend Sir Thomas Smith, discovered the proper pronunciation of ancient Greek. Through his teaching he made the University of Cambridge the centre of the “new learning” and the Reformed religion.

Lenthall, William

2005-03-23T14:04:00.000-08:00

Trained in law, Lenthall

Earth, Rheological properties

2005-03-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

Rheology refers to the ease or difficulty with which a material deforms permanently rather than elastically. For a fluid this is characterized by viscosity, the ratio of the shear stress required to produce the deformation divided by the rate of the deformation. Solids can be characterized by a yield strength, given by the minimum stress required to produce permanent

Frederick I

2005-03-21T14:01:00.000-08:00

In 1688 Frederick succeeded to the electorate and at once set out, assisted

Top

2005-03-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

A toy having a body of conical, circular, or oval shape, often hollow, with a point or peg on which it turns or is made to whirl. If given a knock, a spinning top will go around in a circle at a slant; if spun with a slant at the start, it will quickly stand upright until halted by friction. Its physical properties are similar to those of the gyroscope. Some tops, as the common peg top,

Manchester

2005-03-17T14:49:00.000-08:00

City and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, northwestern England. Most of the city, including the historic core, is in the historic county of Lancashire, but it includes an area south of the River Mersey in the historic county of Cheshire. Manchester is the nucleus of the largest metropolitan area in the north of England, and it

Avola

2005-03-17T02:28:00.000-08:00

Town, Siracusa provincia, southeastern Sicily, Italy, southwest of Syracuse. Rebuilt after an earthquake in 1693, the town has several fine 18th-century churches. Sugar refining and almond packing are the main industries. Pop. (1993 est.) mun., 31,629.

Socrates, Xenophon

2005-03-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

Among the compositions of Xenophon, the one that gives the fullest portrait of Socrates is Memorabilia. The first two chapters of Book I of this work are especially important, because they explicitly undertake a refutation of the charges made against Socrates at his trial; they are therefore a valuable supplement to Xenophon's Apology, which is devoted entirely

Parks, Rosa

2005-03-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

Parks attended Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) and made her living as a seamstress. In 1943 she became

Anhwei, Education

2005-03-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

Western learning was introduced in the early decades of the 20th century through the teaching of Christian missions. The National Government after 1928 attempted to expand education throughout the province, but most people remained illiterate. After 1949 the problem of illiteracy was attacked with vigour. The communes established in the late 1950s were then made responsible

Jalisco

2005-03-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

Estado (“state”), west-central Mexico. It is bounded by the states of Nayarit and Aguascalientes and Zacatecas (north), Guanajuato (east), Michoacán and Colima (south), and by the Pacific Ocean (west). Its capital is Guadalajara (q.v.). The Sierra Madre Occidental traverses the state, separating the narrow, heavily forested coastal plain from a high plateau region that is part of

France, Collège De

2005-03-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

State-supported research institution and centre for adult education in Paris. Founded in 1530 by Francis I, it was originally the Collegium Trilinguae (College of Three Languages). It offers lectures by scholars chosen for eminence in their particular fields without reference to academic qualifications. Professorial chairs are not necessarily permanent, and fields

Pencil Drawing

2005-03-11T10:12:00.000-08:00

Drawing executed with an instrument composed of graphite enclosed in a wood casing and intended either as a sketch for a more elaborate work in another medium, an exercise in visual expression, or a finished work. The cylindrical graphite pencil, because of its usefulness in easily producing linear gray-black strokes, became the successor of the older, metallic

Amtrak

2005-03-10T19:50:00.000-08:00

Formally National Railroad Passenger Corporation federally supported corporation that operates nearly all intercity passenger trains in the United States. It was established by Congress in 1970 and assumed control of passenger service from the nation's private rail companies the following year. Virtually all railways, with the exception of a small handful, signed contracts with Amtrak. The corporation pays the

Black Hand

2005-03-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

Italian Mano Nera, any of several extortion rackets run by immigrant Sicilian and Italian gangsters in the Italian communities of New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Kansas City, and other U.S. cities from about 1890 to 1920. It consisted of sending threatening notes to local merchants and other well-to-do persons—notes printed with black hands, daggers, or other menacing symbols and extorting

African Literature, Oral traditions

2005-03-10T04:26:00.000-08:00

The following works cover and analyze some of the best and most representative collections of oral art forms from many parts of Africa: Uchegbulam N. Abalogu, Garba Ashiwaju, and Regina Amadi-Tshiwala, Oral Poetry in Nigeria (1981), containing articles on a number of different oral genres in contemporary Nigeria; B.W. Andrzejewski and I.M. Lewis, Somali Poetry: An Introduction (1964), a detailed and authoritative account of the main genres and their social context by a linguist and a sociologist; Ulli Beier (comp. and ed.), Yoruba Poetry: An Anthology of Traditional Poems (1970), a good introduction to the rich and complex Yoruba oral traditions; James Stuart (comp.), Izibongo: Zulu Praise-Poems (1968), long poems to kings and chiefs, rich in imagery and allusions, with a discussion of their form, function, and social context; A. Coupez and Th. Kamanzi, Littérature de cour au Rwanda (1970), analysis and texts of the royal poetry of the kings of Rwanda and accounts of the poets responsible for them; Pierre Smith (ed.), Le Récit populaire au Rwanda (1975), 30 popular tales from Rwanda that interpret the history of the region in a different way from the royal praises; M. Damane and P.B. Sanders (eds. and trans.), Lithoko: Sotho Praise-Poems (1974), an authoritative anthology of praise poems of Basotho chiefs, covering 200 years; Francis Mading Deng, The Dinka and Their Songs (1973), a careful account of the performed poetry of the Dinka people of The Sudan; Ruth Finnegan (comp. and trans.), Limba Stories and Story-Telling (1967, reprinted 1981), stories from the Limba of Sierra Leone, with attention to the creative role of individual narrators; Veronika Görög-Karady, Noirs et blancs: leur image dans la littérature orale africaine: étude-anthologie (1976), an analysis of a large number of tales exploring the different perceptions of the relations between races that the stories reveal; Olatunde O. Olatunji, Features of Yorùbá Oral Poetry (1984), a full account of the oral genres from the point of view of Yoruba poetics; Denise Paulme, La Mère dévorante: essai sur le morphologie des contes africains (1976), essays that discuss the social role of the tale and analyze eight archetypal African tales; Jeff Opland, Xhosa Oral Poetry: Aspects of a Black South African Tradition (1983), an analysis primarily of Xhosa praise poetry and poets, incorporating discussion of the interplay of print, literacy, and orality; and Harold Scheub, The Xhosa Ntsomi (1975), an important collection of Xhosa and Zulu stories with an emphasis on the creative role of the storyteller.

Yamasee War

2005-03-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

(1715–16), in British-American colonial history, conflict between Indians, mainly Yamasee, and British colonists in the southeastern area of South Carolina, resulting in the collapse of Indian power in that area. Embittered by settlers' encroachment upon their land and by unresolved grievances arising from the fur trade, a group of Yamasees rose and killed 90 white traders

Malawi

2005-03-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Malawi , formerly Nyasaland landlocked country in southeastern Africa. A country of spectacular highlands and extensive lakes, it occupies a narrow, curving strip of land along the East African Rift Valley. Stretching about 520 miles (840 kilometres) from north to south, it has a width varying from 5 to 100 miles and is bordered by Tanzania to the north, Mozambique to the east and south, and Zambia to the

Villahermosa

2005-03-07T05:35:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Tabasco state, southeastern Mexico. It is in the Gulf lowlands at 33 ft (10 m) above sea level, on the Río Grijalva. Founded in 1596 as Villa Felipe II, the settlement has also been known as San Juan de Villa Hermosa and as San Juan Bautista; it was given its present name, meaning “beautiful city,” in 1915. The city's cathedral was built in 1614; its archaeological museum is one of the

Undersea Cable

2005-03-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

Also called Marine Cable, assembly of conductors enclosed by an insulating sheath and laid on the ocean floor for the transmission of messages. Undersea cables for transmitting telegraph signals antedated the invention of the telephone; the first undersea telegraph cable was laid in 1850 between England and France. The Atlantic was spanned in 1858 between Ireland and Newfoundland, but the cable's

Minden

2005-03-06T03:00:00.000-08:00

City, North Rhine–Westphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany. It lies along the Weser River, near a narrow defile known as the Porta Westfalica where the river quits the mountains and enters the North German Plain. The emperor Charlemagne organized a military bishopric there in 800. The town struggled for independence from the bishopric, joined the Hanseatic League

Cachoeiro De Itapemirim

2005-03-06T02:08:00.000-08:00

City, southern Espírito Santo estado (“state”), eastern Brazil. It lies along the Itapemirim River, at 95 feet (29 m) above sea level and about 30 miles (48 km) inland from the Atlantic coast. It was given city status in 1889. Cachoeiro de Itapemirim is a manufacturing centre and serves a livestock-raising region. It lies on the main highway and railroad linking Vitória, the state capital (70 miles

Anatolian Religion

2005-03-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Beliefs and practices of the ancient peoples and civilizations of Turkey and Armenia, including the Hittites, Hattians, Luwians, Hurrians, Assyrian colonists, Urartians, and Phrygians. For historical background, see Anatolia.

Macedonia

2005-03-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

The republic is located on the part of the southern Balkan Peninsula traditionally known as Macedonia, which is bounded to the south by the Aegean Sea and the Aliákmon

Tacna

2005-03-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

Southernmost departamento of Peru, bounded by the Pacific Ocean (southwest), Bolivia (northeast), and Chile (south). It occupies an area of 6,171 square miles (15,983 square km). In the coastal desert of the southwest, settlement depends on irrigation provided by the Locumba and Sama rivers. The northeast lies high in the Andes. The one area of concentrated settlement is around the city

Wollomombi Falls

2005-03-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

Set of two cataracts on the Wollomombi River, a headstream of the Macleay River, in northeastern New South Wales, Australia. The falls are situated 22 miles (35 km) east of Armidale in the New England Range of the Eastern Highlands. The Wollomombi Falls rank among the highest in the world, with an uninterrupted leap of 1,100 feet (335 m) and a total fall of 1,580 feet (480 m).

Monaco

2005-03-02T00:24:00.000-08:00

Officially Principality of Monaco , French Principauté de Monaco sovereign principality located along the Mediterranean Sea in the midst of the resort area of the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera). The city of Nice lies 9 miles (15 km) to the west, the Italian border 5 miles (8 km) to the east. Monaco's tiny territory occupies a set of densely clustered hills and a headland that looks southward over the Mediterranean. The principality has an area of

Acton, Sir John Francis Edward, 6th Baronet

2005-03-01T03:30:00.000-08:00

Finding the French Navy unappreciative of his skills, Acton, the son of an expatriate Englishman, joined the forces of Peter Leopold (later Holy Roman emperor Leopold

Drago, Luis María

2005-02-28T23:35:00.000-08:00

A member of a distinguished Argentine family, Drago began his career as a newspaper editor. He later served as Argentine financial officer and then as minister of foreign affairs

Hawkins, Sir John

2005-02-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

Hawkins wrote, among other works, an annotated edition

Clare

2005-02-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern South Australia, 80 miles (130 km) north of Adelaide. Founded in 1842, it was named for the Irish county in which one of its early settlers was born. In 1851, Jesuits planted the first vineyard of the district. Grapes for table use and wine making, along with other fruits, grains, livestock, and dairy products, now form the basis of the local economy. Declared a municipality

Highland Park

2005-02-26T02:23:00.000-08:00

City, northern residential suburb of Chicago, Lake county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. White settlement of the site began in 1834, and by the turn of the century Highland Park had become a wealthy residential suburb. Ravinia Park (36 acres [15 hectares]) was established in 1905 as an amusement park. The park has become the location of one of the nation's most prominent music festivals and

Spadefish

2005-02-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

(family Ephippidae), any of about 17 species of marine fishes (order Perciformes), predominantly tropical though also found in temperate regions. In appearance the spadefishes are deep-bodied and laterally compressed, with five or six vertical black bands on a silvery body. The vertical bars may disappear with age, the adults being solid white, black, or, more commonly,

Wynn, Ed

2005-02-25T05:53:00.000-08:00

Wynn made his professional debut with the Thurber-Nasher Repertoire Company in Norwich, Conn., in 1902 and acquired the nickname of the Perfect Fool from a revue of the same name in

Sgi

2005-02-24T16:15:00.000-08:00

Silicon Graphics, Inc., was founded in 1982 by James Clark, an electrical-engineering professor at Stanford University who had identified a need for desktop computers to be able to display graphic images quickly and in three-dimensional detail—something previously possible only on multimillion-dollar supercomputers. The primary users of these computers were expected

Spanish Civil War

2005-02-24T13:08:00.000-08:00

(1936–39), military revolt against the Republican government of Spain, supported by conservative elements within the country. When an initial military coup failed to win control of the entire country, a bloody civil war ensued, fought with great ferocity on both sides. The Nationalists, as the rebels were called, received aid from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Republicans

Berosus

2005-02-24T07:33:00.000-08:00

Chaldean priest of Bel in Babylon who wrote a work in three books (in Greek) on the history and culture of Babylonia; it was widely used by later Greek compilers, whose versions in turn were quoted by religious historians such as Eusebius and Josephus. Thus Berosus, though his work survives only in fragmentary

Parameters, Variation Of

2005-02-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

To illustrate the method, suppose it is desired to find a particular solution of the equation y² + p

Tocantins

2005-02-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

Inland estado (“state”) of north-central Brazil. A part of the sparsely settled Central-West region, Tocantins is bounded by the states of Maranhão and Piauí to the northeast, Bahia to the east, Goiás to the south, Mato Grosso to the west, and Pará to the northwest. Tocantins was created from the northern half of Goiás (q.v.) state in 1989. Its area is 107,075 square miles (277,322 square km). The capital

Buzkashi

2005-02-21T04:31:00.000-08:00

Buzkashi has two main forms: the traditional, grassroots game, known as tudabaray (Persian [Dari]: “coming out of the crowd”), and the modern government-sponsored version, qarajay (“black place”). Both feature mounted

Rabbit

2005-02-20T22:56:00.000-08:00

There is no single taxonomic group that constitutes the rabbit. Rather the name refers to an accumulation of 10 genera in the family Leporidae whose characteristics are intermediate between hares and pikas, the other members of order Lagomorpha. The best-known and most recognizable of the 28 rabbit species are the European rabbit and the 16 or so species of North and South

Keyboard Instrument, Germany

2005-02-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

From 1500 to 1800 Germany led the world in organ building and the composition of organ music. The organ builders reached the peak of their achievement about 1700 in the work of Arp Schnitger. Schnitger made organs with four manuals, pedals, and as many as 60 speaking stops, but he made some instruments with fewer than 30 speaking stops that are capable of dealing with the whole pre-Romantic

Parameters, Variation Of

2005-02-20T17:29:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1912–2001) International Amateur Athletic Federation track-and-field organization of national associations of more than 160 countries. It was founded as the International Amateur Athletic Association at Stockholm in 1912. In 1936 the IAAF took over regulation of women's international track-and-field competition from the Fédération Sportive Féminine International, which had been founded in 1921. The major aims of the IAAF are to

Murmansk

2005-02-18T17:39:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1917) Romanov-na-murmane, seaport and centre of Murmansk oblast (administrative region), northwestern Russia, lying 125 mi (200 km) north of the Arctic Circle, and on the eastern shore of Kola Bay, 30 mi from the ice-free Barents Sea. The town, founded in 1915 as a supply port in World War I, was a base for the British, French, and American expeditionary forces against the Bolsheviks in 1918. In World War II Murmansk served

Pereyaslav Agreement

2005-02-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

The hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, had been leading a revolt against Polish rule in Ukraine

China

2005-02-17T04:31:00.000-08:00

On Oct. 1, 1999, Pres. Jiang Zemin and leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrated the 50th anniversary of communist rule in China with a massive military parade through downtown Beijing. When Mao Zedong had proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) half a century earlier, China was just emerging from a long and bloody civil war. Few observers

Marietta

2005-02-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

During the

Quadruple Alliance

2005-02-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

Alliance first formed in 1813, during the final phase of the Napoleonic Wars, by Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, for the purpose of defeating Napoleon, but conventionally dated from Nov. 20, 1815, when it was officially renewed to prevent recurrence of French aggression and to provide machinery to enforce the peace settlement concluded at the Congress of Vienna. The members

Dagerman, Stig

2005-02-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

A journalist, Dagerman scored a critical success with his play Den dödsdömde (first

Hope

2005-02-14T23:52:00.000-08:00

District municipality, southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It lies at the confluence of the Coquihalla and Fraser rivers in the forested Coast Mountains, near Mount Hope (6,000 feet [1,829 metres]), 90 miles (145 km) east of Vancouver. The Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Hope on the site in 1848–49, an event commemorated by a cairn at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Wallace

Alabama, Climate

2005-02-14T03:39:00.000-08:00

The Alabama climate is temperate, with an average annual temperature of about 64° F (18° C), mellowed by altitude to some 60° F (16° C) in the northern counties and reaching 67° F (19° C) in the southern counties, although summer heat is often alleviated somewhat by the winds blowing in from the Gulf. Occasionally the temperature may rise to 100° F (38° C) in the summer, whereas snow may occasionally fall in

China, Formation of a rival southern government

2005-02-13T08:21:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, in July Sun Yat-sen, supported by part of the Chinese navy and followed by some 100 members of parliament, attempted to organize a rival government in Canton. The initial costs of this undertaking, termed the Movement to Protect the Constitution, probably were supplied by the German consulate in Shanghai. On August 31 the rump parliament in Canton established

Bingerville

2005-02-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern Côte d'Ivoire, on the Ébrié Lagoon. Named for Captain Louis-Gustave Binger, first governor of the French Ivory Coast colony, the town was the colonial capital from 1900 to 1934. Formerly a trade centre among the Ebrie (Kyama) people, it is now the site of agricultural research stations for oil palm, coffee and cacao, and livestock. Pineapples and avocados are among

Furniture, China

2005-02-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

The ancestry of the chair in China cannot be traced as far back as in Egypt and Greece. Since the T'ang dynasty (AD 618–907) an unbroken series of drawings and paintings has been preserved showing the interiors and exteriors of Chinese houses and their furniture. Also preserved since the 16th century are a number of chairs of wood or lacquered wood that bear an astonishing resemblance

Teresa Of ávila, Saint

2005-02-10T15:55:00.000-08:00

Also called Saint Teresa of Jesus , original name Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada Spanish nun, one of the great mystics and religious women of the Roman Catholic church, and author of spiritual classics. She was the originator of the Carmelite Reform, which restored and emphasized the austerity and contemplative character of primitive Carmelite life. St. Teresa was elevated

Ma Yuan

2005-02-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

It was in landscape painting that Ma's genius lay. He executed a number of large landscape screens, all of which are now lost. He also painted tall, hanging scrolls in which, according to an early Chinese writer, “there are steep mountains rising imposingly, with streams winding around them and waterfalls partly hidden among the trees.” The author also wrote that Ma made

Kwara

2005-02-09T02:11:00.000-08:00

Kwara state consists mostly of wooded savanna, but there are forested regions in the south. Almost all of its savanna area was conquered by the Fulani in the early 19th century, and the region remained part

Nadi, Nedo; And Nadi, Aldo

2005-02-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

Italian brothers who were among the greatest and most versatile fencers in the history of the sport. At the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium, the Nadi brothers led Italy to a sweep of the gold medals in the three team events. Nedo also captured the gold medal in the individual foil and

Abu Al-ghazi Bahadur

2005-02-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

The son of 'Arab Muhammad Khan, Abu al-Ghazi spent most of his early life in Urgench. When his father died and a dynastic struggle arose among Abu al-Ghazi and his brothers for the succession to the throne, he was compelled

Jourdan, Jean-baptiste, Count

2005-02-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

After being a soldier in King Louis XVI's army and serving in the West Indies (1778–84), Jourdan retired and became a draper in Limoges. He supported the Revolution, however; and, having been elected

Skiing

2005-02-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

Unlike the Alpine competitors, the Nordic skiers did not have a world championship tournament in 1996 and thus were able to focus fully on the 17th Nordic World Cup. In that competition Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway and Vladimir Smirnov of Kazakstan continued their supremacy. Dæhlie retained the overall title, his fourth in five years, with runner-up Smirnov denied a chance to

Ursins, Marie-anne De La Trémoille, Princesse Des

2005-02-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

Ursins moved to Italy with her first husband, and after his death she married an Italian duke, who died in 1698. She remained in Rome until 1701, where her salon became a centre of French

Sickert, Walter Richard

2005-02-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

Sickert was the son of Oswald Adalbert Sickert, a Danish-born German draftsman who settled in England in 1868. After several years working as an actor, in 1881 the younger Sickert attended

Nordström, Ludvig Anselm

2005-02-03T22:01:00.000-08:00

Born of a Swedish father and an English mother, Nordström was much influenced by English writers, especially Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle, Laurence Sterne, H.G. Wells, and G.K. Chesterton. He most delighted his readers with

Finland, Recreation

2005-02-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

In Finland the basic national sport—which originally was a necessary means of winter transportation—is cross-country skiing. Nationalism also encouraged the development of special proficiency, which was fostered by ski fairs and competitions held at Oulu beginning in the late 1890s. An interest in other athletics developed from the time that the Finns took part

Holabird, William

2005-02-03T02:45:00.000-08:00

U.S. architect who, with his partner, Martin Roche, was a leading exponent of the influential Chicago School of commercial architecture; their Tacoma Building (Chicago, 1886–89) established the use of a total steel skeleton as a framework for building skyscrapers—a significant advance over the pioneering use of metal supports in the

Palana

2005-02-02T05:36:00.000-08:00

Urban settlement and administrative centre of Koryak autonomous okrug (district), Kamchatka oblast (province), far eastern Russia. The settlement is situated on the western coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula and lies along the Palana River, 5 miles (8 km) from its mouth on the Sea of Okhotsk. The district was formed in 1930. The settlement has a regional museum. Pop. (1993 est.) 4,100.

Switzerland

2005-02-01T19:20:00.000-08:00

With political maneuvering for the next general elections--scheduled

Sunbird

2005-02-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

Any of about 95 species of the songbird family Nectariniidae (order Passeriformes) that have brilliant plumage in breeding males. They are 9 to 15 cm (3 1/2 to 6 inches) long and live chiefly on nectar. Unlike hummingbirds, sunbirds rarely hover while feeding but instead perch on the flower stalk (see photo). Sunbirds are most numerous

Aleut

2005-01-31T02:27:00.000-08:00

The Aleuts hunted seals, sea otters, whales,

Atum

2005-01-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

Atum's myth merged with that of the great sun god Re, giving rise to the deity Re-Atum. When distinguished from Re, Atum was the creator's original form, living inside the Nun, the primordial waters of chaos. At creation he emerged to engender

Music, Music and world view

2005-01-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Again, music proves its protean susceptibilities in the service of disparate world views. Among humanist psychologists (such as the Americans Gordon Allport and Abraham Maslow) music may be one among other means toward self-fulfillment, integration, self-actualization; for aesthetic Existentialists (such as the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre) it is yet another

Marschner, Heinrich August

2005-01-27T22:57:00.000-08:00

Marschner studied law at Leipzig, but, encouraged by Ludwig van Beethoven, whom he met in Vienna in 1817, and others, he turned to composing. In 1820 his close friend Carl Maria von Weber produced Marschner's opera Heinrich IV und d'Aubigné at Dresden. Marschner was later appointed

Atum

2005-01-27T18:20:00.000-08:00

A chemical element in the oxygen family (Group VIa) of the periodic table, closely allied in chemical and physical properties with the elements sulfur and tellurium.

Hackman, Gene

2005-01-27T08:54:00.000-08:00

Hackman left home at age 16 and enlisted in the marines for five years, entering the Korean conflict. He began a study of journalism

Tin Processing, Bearing alloys

2005-01-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

Alloys of tin with about 7 percent antimony and 3 percent copper have proved to be the best materials for plain bearings running against a steel shaft. Known as tin-based babbitt metals or white metals, they owe their reputation to the ability to deform sufficiently in order to compensate for irregularities in the bearing assembly, to embed foreign particles in order

Uruguaiana

2005-01-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Uruguayana, city, western Rio Grande do Sul estado (“state”), southern Brazil. It lies along the Uruguay River, across the bridge from the town of Paso de los Libres, Arg. Founded in 1839 as Sant' Ana do Uruguai, Uruguaiana was made a town and renamed in 1846; city status was accorded in 1874. Uruguaiana is a livestock (sheep and cattle) centre and processes meat and animal by-products. It is also a river port

Performing Arts, Europe.

2005-01-23T22:12:00.000-08:00

In the London ballet world, the Royal Ballet's

Scythebill

2005-01-22T21:29:00.000-08:00

Also called Sabrebill, or Sicklebill, any of several birds of Central and South American tropical forests, belonging to the genus Campylorhamphus. The five species are woodcreepers (family Dendrocolaptidae, order Passeriformes), with long downcurved bills that are as much as one-third of the bird's total length, which is about 23 cm (9 inches).

Orange

2005-01-22T18:26:00.000-08:00

Any of several species of small trees or shrubs of the genus Citrus of the family Rutaceae and their nearly round fruits, which have leathery and oily rinds and edible, juicy inner flesh. The species of orange most important commercially are the China orange, also called the sweet, or common, orange; the mandarin orange, some varieties of which are called tangerine

Philip The Evangelist, Saint

2005-01-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

Also called Philip The Deacon in the early Christian church, one of the seven deacons appointed to tend the Christians of Jerusalem, thereby enabling the Apostles to freely conduct their missions. His energetic preaching, however, earned him the title of Philip the Evangelist and led him to minister successfully in Samaria, in Palestine, where he converted, among others,

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, China

2005-01-21T15:59:00.000-08:00

Chinese philosophers from the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) onward often used extended metaphors (from which fable is the logical development) to make their points. This is believed to reflect the fact that, as “realistic” thinkers, the Chinese generally did not favour more abstract argument. Thus simple allegory helped to stimulate audience interest and to increase the force of

Catechetical School

2005-01-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

In early Christianity, a type of educational institution with a curriculum directed toward inquirers (especially those trained in the Greek paideia, or educational system) whose aim was to gain a greater knowledge of Christianity and eventually, perhaps, baptism into the Christian community. Located in such centres as Alexandria, the catechetical schools became

Hawthorn, John Michael

2005-01-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

Hawthorn won his first motorcycle race at 18, turned to sports cars at 21, and two years later, driving a Cooper–Bristol, defeated Juan Manuel Fangio at Goodwood. In 1953, driving for Ferrari, he won the French Grand Prix from Fangio; in 1955 he won the tragic Le

Kirchwey, Freda

2005-01-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

Kirchwey was the daughter of a Columbia University Law School professor and dean and later (1915–16) warden of Sing Sing State Prison (now Ossining Correctional Facility). She graduated from Barnard College, New York City, in

Thaw, John Edward

2005-01-17T14:48:00.000-08:00

British actor (b. Jan. 3, 1942, Manchester, Eng.—d. Feb. 21, 2002, Luckington, Wiltshire, Eng.), was a respected actor who starred in several British television series but achieved international recognition for one of his roles—the crusty, cerebral Chief Inspector Morse, the title character in a series of 33 two-part dramas based on the novels of British detective writer Colin Dexter. Thaw trained

Mars Pathfinder

2005-01-17T13:27:00.000-08:00

Robotic U.S. spacecraft launched to Mars to demonstrate a new way to land a spacecraft on the planet's surface and the operation of an independent robotic rover. Developed by NASA as part of a low-cost approach to planetary exploration, Pathfinder successfully completed both demonstrations, gathered scientific data, and returned striking images from Mars. Its observations

Karsh, Yousuf

2005-01-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

As an Armenian in Turkey, the young Karsh endured persecution and privation. In 1924, at age 16, he immigrated to Canada, joining his uncle, who was a photographer, in Sherbrooke, Quebec. From 1928 to 1931 he served as an apprentice to a Boston painter

Arion

2005-01-15T02:35:00.000-08:00

Semilegendary Greek poet and musician of Methymna in Lesbos. He is said to have invented the dithyramb (choral poem or chant performed at the festival of Dionysus); that is, he gave it literary form. His father's name, Cycleus, indicates the connection of the son with the cyclic or circular chorus of the dithyramb. None of his works survives, and only one story about his life

Earth Sciences, Knowledge of the tides

2005-01-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

By contrast, the tides along the eastern shores of Asia generally have a considerable range and were the subject of close observation and much speculation among

Sha'ir

2005-01-14T11:24:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “poet”), in Arabic literature, poet who in pre-Islamic times was a tribal dignitary whose poetic utterances were deemed supernaturally inspired by such spirits as jinn and shaitans. As such, his word was needed to insure the success of certain tribal activities, particularly war, grazing, and the invocation of the gods. In times of intertribal strife, the satire

Arabia, History Of, Yemen

2005-01-12T15:21:00.000-08:00

In 1839 the British took Aden, ruling it and the island of Socotra (at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden) from India; the port of Aden became valuable as a coaling station. In 1849 the Ottoman Turks occupied the Yemeni Tihamah but could not hold San'a' in the interior until 1872. They were never able to break the resistance of the Zaydi tribes completely and were forced to an accommodation with

Iron Knob

2005-01-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, 247 miles (397 km) northwest of Adelaide by rail. It is the centre for one of the richest deposits of iron ore in the Southern Hemisphere. Mining rights were acquired in 1897, and in 1901 the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Ltd. (BHP), began developing the deposits of iron ore in Iron Knob hill. The modern town lies in an extremely arid region

Andalusia

2005-01-12T06:43:00.000-08:00

Spanish Andalucía comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) and historical region of Spain, encompassing the provincias of Huelva, Cádiz, Seville, Málaga, Córdoba, Jaén, Granada, and Almería. The comunidad autónoma was established by the statute of autonomy of 1981. The southernmost region of Spain, Andalusia is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the southeast, the Atlantic Ocean on the

Philip Ii

2005-01-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

King of the Spaniards (1556–98) and king of the Portuguese (as Philip I, 1580–98), champion of the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation. During his reign the Spanish Empire attained its greatest power, extent, and influence, though he failed to suppress the revolt of the Netherlands (beginning in 1566) and lost the “Invincible Armada” in the attempted